New study abroad bloggers to chronicle adventures

November 20, 2009

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LEWISBURG, Pa. — Seven new bloggers from Bucknell University will soon begin chronicling their study abroad adventures in and out of the classroom.

The spring 2010 bloggers, their majors and study destinations (all are Class of '11):

Andrew Fine, management, Czech Republic

Kristin Hinrichs, psychology, South Africa

Danielle Kane, political science and economics, Denmark

Emilie Kozol, management, South Africa

Maika Pineda, English and French, France

Jennifer Shukusky, English and psychology, Australia

Katie Souza, electrical engineering, Australia

While two students will be in South Africa, they will be on opposite coasts. Kozol will be studying at the University of Cape Town on the Atlantic Ocean side of the country, while Hinrichs will be at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth on the Indian Ocean side.

Appreciate life"There are about a million things I would love to do and see, but overall I really want to immerse myself in the culture," said Kozol, who will remain in South Africa after the semester ends to do a summer service-learning project in a local elementary school. "I want to step away from being an American and appreciate life in a way I haven't been able to before."

For Hinrichs, the South African wildlife is one of the key reasons she chose to study in that country.

For a completely satisfying semester abroad, "I will have to have either seen a lion up close in the wild or have held a baby lion," she said. "I am in love with wildlife and am just so incredibly excited for all that South Africa has to offer in that department."

While in Copenhagen, Kane said she wants to focus on "learning about the city from a planning and development point of view to understand what makes the city so successful and so livable. I want to be completely immersed in Danish culture and truly understand the Danish way of life."

Two in AustraliaTwo students will be in Australia. Souza will attend the University of Melbourne, while Shukusky will be at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.

"I want to see the Great Barrier Reef, kangaroos and Sydney's Opera House," said Shukusky. "I also want to leave being able to say I shared a great rugby season with their club team."

The other Australian blogger, Souza, said she's always known she wanted to study abroad. "But as an engineer, I have seen that is an opportunity that not everyone has. I feel very lucky to be able to spend six months in Australia. I can't wait to see what surprises are in store."

Pineda, who will be in Paris as part of the Bucknell en France program, said her primary goal as a study abroad student is to "step out of my comfort zone. If that means eating frog legs, climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower or even just standing in front of an entire class of French students at the university to give an oral presentation entirely in French, then I'll do it."

Explore the continentFine, who will be in Prague, said he needs to "see the world. I have never been to Europe before and I can't describe how excited I am. I want to see what's out there, experience the different cultures, begin to learn new languages and explore as much of the continent as I possibly can."

The Bucknell bloggers, who are selected competitively by International Education and Communications, are equipped with digital cameras so they can add photographs and short video clips to their posts. Visit the study abroad blog.

The spring 2010 blog will be the sixth edition since starting in July 2007. With nearly 70,000 hits since its inception, the blog is one of the website's most popular features.

More than 40 percent of Bucknell's undergraduate students study a semester or more off the Bucknell campus.

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